4 ms·

New Jersey city that limited street parking hasnt had a traffic death in 7 years

18 points by lxm 3y ago

TulliusCicero 3y ago
Good for them! So many cities in America "pledged" Vision Zero and then did very little in support of that vision. It's so common for basic improvements like dedicated bus lanes or protected bike lanes or crosswalk islands to be treated as weird or overly demanding, so you only get extremely slow incremental progress.
- whatindaheck 3y ago
  > or overly demanding From a US-centric experience: driving is generally low-effort, incredibly convenient, quicker, and has the support of everybody in comparison to transit. All our infrastructure money caters to driving. It is THE way to transport yourself. As a result, when drivers find a sidewalk or bike lane installation to be “overly demanding” it leaves me without words. How do you explain to someone that has it all - that they have it all? The irony being, in my opinion, that the biggest inconvenience to driving in a dense area is everyone else driving.
  - TulliusCicero 3y ago
    This is correct. Drivers get most of the land and money as it is -- but that's not enough for them. For many of them, they need ALL of the land and money to go to one option and one option only. And they call this: freedom.
jmyeet 3y ago
Many people in the US only walk between a school, business, office or home they're visiting and its parking lot, and they certainly never cycle anywhere. I really wish they did because you'd quickly understand just how hostile 99% of the US is to pedestrians and cyclists. Let me rattle off a few problems: 1. Turning right on red is a disaster for pedstrian and cyclist safety; 2. Street parking takes up a lot of space and typically opens up cyclists to the risks of getting "doored" by an unobservant driver; 3. Bike lanes are rare and even when they exist, they're often just used as extra parking. In some cases, I'm sympathetic (eg UPS drivers) but I also see Uber/Lyft drivers who don't want to go to an available pull-in space 30 feet up the road thus forcing cyclists back onto the road or, worse yet, people just parking there. 4. In many other places turning lanes are often split from going straight lanes with some kind of divider in between so you can easily tell which way someone is going. You certainly can't rely on what they do or don't indiate; 5. Speaking of dividers, a center divider you can stand on is hugely helpful, safe, convenient and costs cars basically nothing; 6. You can design intersections that facilitate all forms of transport. The Netherlands is probably the gold standard here; 7. It can be hit or miss if US drivers stop at crosswalks at all; 8. I've had police tell me to get in the bike lane when I'm in the car lane. I had to point out to them that I was turning left. What am I supposed to do? 9. Many streets in the US don't even have sidewalks; and 10. Pedestrian crossings on busy roads tend to vary from nonexistent to completely useless. For example: you have to wait to cross halfway then wait again on the other side, you might have to wait upwards of 10 minutes for a window (I"ve heard of some streets in LA being like this) and you still risk an incident with an inattentive driver turning right anyway. The crazy one to me is Manhattan. Street parking should be completely removed in Manhattan. Loading zones only. But, as they say, a New York assemblymen is a job-for-life... until you talk about removing street parking.

18 points by lxm 3y ago

Good for them! So many cities in America "pledged" Vision Zero and then did very little in support of that vision. It's so common for basic improvements like dedicated bus lanes or protected bike lanes or crosswalk islands to be treated as weird or overly demanding, so you only get extremely slow incremental progress.

whatindaheck 3y ago
> or overly demanding From a US-centric experience: driving is generally low-effort, incredibly convenient, quicker, and has the support of everybody in comparison to transit. All our infrastructure money caters to driving. It is THE way to transport yourself. As a result, when drivers find a sidewalk or bike lane installation to be “overly demanding” it leaves me without words. How do you explain to someone that has it all - that they have it all? The irony being, in my opinion, that the biggest inconvenience to driving in a dense area is everyone else driving.
- TulliusCicero 3y ago
  This is correct. Drivers get most of the land and money as it is -- but that's not enough for them. For many of them, they need ALL of the land and money to go to one option and one option only. And they call this: freedom.

jmyeet 3y ago

Many people in the US only walk between a school, business, office or home they're visiting and its parking lot, and they certainly never cycle anywhere. I really wish they did because you'd quickly understand just how hostile 99% of the US is to pedestrians and cyclists. Let me rattle off a few problems: 1. Turning right on red is a disaster for pedstrian and cyclist safety; 2. Street parking takes up a lot of space and typically opens up cyclists to the risks of getting "doored" by an unobservant driver; 3. Bike lanes are rare and even when they exist, they're often just used as extra parking. In some cases, I'm sympathetic (eg UPS drivers) but I also see Uber/Lyft drivers who don't want to go to an available pull-in space 30 feet up the road thus forcing cyclists back onto the road or, worse yet, people just parking there. 4. In many other places turning lanes are often split from going straight lanes with some kind of divider in between so you can easily tell which way someone is going. You certainly can't rely on what they do or don't indiate; 5. Speaking of dividers, a center divider you can stand on is hugely helpful, safe, convenient and costs cars basically nothing; 6. You can design intersections that facilitate all forms of transport. The Netherlands is probably the gold standard here; 7. It can be hit or miss if US drivers stop at crosswalks at all; 8. I've had police tell me to get in the bike lane when I'm in the car lane. I had to point out to them that I was turning left. What am I supposed to do? 9. Many streets in the US don't even have sidewalks; and 10. Pedestrian crossings on busy roads tend to vary from nonexistent to completely useless. For example: you have to wait to cross halfway then wait again on the other side, you might have to wait upwards of 10 minutes for a window (I"ve heard of some streets in LA being like this) and you still risk an incident with an inattentive driver turning right anyway. The crazy one to me is Manhattan. Street parking should be completely removed in Manhattan. Loading zones only. But, as they say, a New York assemblymen is a job-for-life... until you talk about removing street parking.